Nutty's 7th birthday was last week. I don't know why, but she insisted on having a camping themed birthday and having a sleepover. So...because I'm such a great mom, we had a campover birthday. Twelve girls total (including Nutty and Tottie) with six of them camping overnight in a tent in our back yard. What was I thinking?! I searched all over Pinterest for ideas for her party but I'm not one to go way overboard with decor and things. I just wanted ideas... It started with Nutty's invitations. She really liked this invitation. Though the site somewhat told you how to make them, the author of the post admits she had a hard time coming up with an appropriate pattern. I did some more searching and couldn't come up with one either. After over an hour of cutting, measuring, re-cutting, folding, etc, I finally came up with my own pattern. To save our lovely readers some time, I thought I'd actually share my pattern with you so you can easily make your own tent invitations! … [Read more...]
Dog Days Of Summer
We are officially in the "dog days of summer". Not only is this traditionally the hottest part of the year, it's also the time when parents are anxious for their kids to go back to school. After all, it's been about two months since school got out and the kids are getting "bored" with the same old summer activities. Rest assured, you've only got about a month left to go! In the mean time, here are 12 ideas you may not have thought of this summer... 1. Explore your city Or the closest big city to you. Take an expedition to some place that you haven't been yet. 2. Volunteer somewhere Check out Doing Good Together for ways to volunteer with your kids. 3. Make movies Have your kids write a script, recruit their friends as actors, rehearse, and make a movie. Not only is it time consuming, it is also fun and something that you will enjoy watching when your kids get older! 4. Car wash Sure everyone does lemonade stands but what about a car wash for the neighbors? A great … [Read more...]
National Night Out Party Ideas
National Night Out celebrates it's 30th anniversary on August 6th, 2013. Though my neighborhood doesn't celebrate National Night Out (we like to be different), we do have a block party every summer. Just like the official "Night Out", our block party is a time to get to know the new neighbors and connect with the established ones that we don't see on a regular basis. We are known to have the "the best block party in town" and frequently have people from neighborhoods close by crash our party to hear the bands play. Our block party really is big deal... In honor of this year's upcoming National Night Out 30th Anniversary, I thought I would share some ideas from my neighborhood block parties that have helped them to be successful every year... 1) Register your party on the National Night Out website. They've got a ton more ideas than we do to make your party a success! If your party is simply a block party and not related to National Night Out, make sure to call … [Read more...]
Train Table to Lego Table
When we moved into our new home (and when I say new I mean new to us...it was built in 1895) the previous owners were empty nesters...their kids had grown up, gone to college, and moved out. They offered to leave us some of their old toys if we wanted them. We happily obliged and thanked them for the kind gesture...not realizing how truly awesome it was! We don't go into our attic...it's not heated nor air-conditioned, and it's quite drafty at times. But this past week I was playing hide and seek with my twins and I thought that hiding in the attic might be a fun idea....in my time in the attic I was snooping around and realized the amazing treasure I had forgotten about, the toys they left. Now, truly and honestly, I didn't know exactly what toys they left and what a surprise it was when I realized it was three HUGE boxes filled to the brim with Legos. All sorts of shapes, colors, styles, kits and directions. I priced them out and it seriously would have been over a thousand dollars … [Read more...]
Calculator Hopscotch
Ready for a little math fun? All you need is sidewalk chalk and a rock. Draw a calculator like the one in this photo below large enough for feet to fit inside the buttons. Toss the rock onto the calculator. What ever number it lands on is your goal number. For example, if it lands on number 5 then have your child hop onto the equation that would make five....1+4=5, 7-2=5, and so on. If you want to play with other kids have them be in a competition to see who can work through all ten numbers first. … [Read more...]
DIY Large Cup Holder for Parties
My neighborhood has a block party every year. I've mentioned it in my sponge ball fight post and my giant slip and slide post. Every year after the party is over, we spend time cleaning up all the water bottles and plastic cups left sitting on the street and in people's yards. Last year we decided to try something that would help with our clean-up and lessen the amount of water bottles we use. One of my neighbor's had seen a large cup holder somewhere and asked my husband to build one for the block party. This is how she described what she had seen... She described something simple with two posts and twine in between. Well, hubby decided he would go all out and build something much better! It took him about 4 hours to do because he made it perfectly square, rounded all the edges, and sanded the whole thing to a smooth finish. We was going to stain it but didn't have time. I told him that was perfectly fine! While hubby was building the frame, he had the girls … [Read more...]
